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Frank Chimero on the State of Design

Perhaps the best thing you can do with a problem is describe it as accurately as you can, then chip away at it with as much insight, clarity, humility, and kindness as you can muster.

Frank Chimero is a rarity on the modern web: he doesn't write often, but when he does, people listen- and for good reason. Chimero is a designer with the the extraordinary ability to dig so deep into his own discipline that he often uproots the fundamentals, exposing and explaining their nature in such a way that designers and laymen alike take equally valuable insights from his writing.

His latest, Designing in the Borderlands, is no different. Adapted from a recent lecture, Chimero leads us down the path of his own design journey, starting with sweeping lessons and ending in a fascinating study of the current, if you will, shape of design.

This is not, forgive me, a morning read, but is best absorbed in the stillness of an evening. So bookmark the page, and when the noise of the world dies down tonight, pull out your phone, or your tablet, or your laptop, and enjoy Frank's meditation (do not, under any circumstances, read it in an Instapaper- or Pocket-styled text-only view. As with all his writings, this is best experienced as a dance between design and words).